Liveblog of the March 21st Q&A with Ion Hazzikostas

Game Director Ion Hazzikostas is back with another developer Q&A and answering questions about Battle for Azeroth! We're liveblogging all the answers from the Q&A and highlighting any important questions and answers from the stream.\r\r\r\r\r\rAs usual, we created a BINGO card for this Q&A. \r\r\r\r\rHighlights\r\rA Caverns of Time portal is coming soon!\rHide Chest Transmog option will be added\r\rLiveblog\r\rThey're not quite ready to talk about the big changes of Rise of Azshara just yet, but very soon.\r\rAre there any areas you'd like to lessen RNG and increase player agency?\r\rRandomness has been a part of loot acquisition from the beginning. They've tried some ways to mitigate that over the years. Recently, they have the Titan Residuum vendor. At this point in WoW, they have some many different avenues of loot acquisition through M+, Raiding and PvP, whereas in the past, the best gear was only from raiding. \r\rThey're working on some tech to mitigate some bad luck -- for example, the game has some history to your previous Mythic+ caches, to mitigate the chances you open up Bracers 3 weeks in a row.\r\rAre gear resets too frequent?\r\rIt's a double edged sword. There's definitely a sense of, it wipes away your accomplishments from last tier. As they've talked about in the past, the other side is that there has to be a good progression path between tiers.\r\rYou've said Fun is the ultimate metric that drives the game forward. How do you measure fun?\r\rIf you listen to the Activision Earning Call and you hear MAUs, that's Investor speak and not what the developers use. All they want to do is as engaging as possible. If there's something that is over rewarding or has a risk\/reward ratio that is out of wack, then they see participation rewards (e.g. The Mechanar Problem: In BC, it was the fastest, easiest dungeon).\r\rSome other metrics are:\rHow frequently do you log in?\rHow long do you log in for?\rWhat activities do people do?\r\rWhat's the philosophy surrounding PvP Item Levels compared to M+ and Raiding?\r\rThe intent is supposed to be its close to parallel. They believe it to be the case.\r\rIf you're talking about the Weekly Conquest Reward, that's different because that's a participation reward which isn't comparable to a M+ 10 dungeon or Mythic Raiding.\r\rAre you going to address the issue where secondaries are more important than main stat?\r\rThere's some changes built from Legion. There's not a consistent primary to secondary ratio. At lower gear levels, the secondaries are higher. At higher gear levels, the primaries are higher. When you look at your stat weighs, you're not having a 1:1 comparison anymore and you might be comparing 100 main stat to 50 secondary stat. This may be more skewed to certain specs, more than others. \r\rWhat will be done to address the removed portals?\r\rThey don't want to rehash the reasons which they already posted on the forums. There are valid reasons. With every expansion they've removed some portals.\r\rThey'll be adding a Caverns of Time portal that takes you directly into the central Nexus. There's also another UI update coming soon which will help you travel to another continent when an quest is tracked on another continent. \r\rWhen will we see more transmog customization?\r\rIn the next update, they're going to add the ability to "Hide Chest" transmog to show off your tattoos. They're looking at transmog rules more broadly and loosen some of the old restrictions. There's some weird interactions that currently still exist.\r\rAre we ever going to see increased character customization? e.g. Height, eye color, etc.\r\rThey want to do more with character customization, but not on the level of lots of sliders. Height adjustments are probably more difficult. \r\rWhen can be expect information about the next set of Allied Races?\r\rWhen they do come, they'll probably come from the same sources as previous Allied Races -- BlizzCon, Patches, etc.\r\rHave you considered making Allied Race unlock questlines repeatable on alts?\r\rIt's a cool suggestion. They'll discuss with the team. \r\rAre there any intentions to address not just the speed of leveling but the quality as well?\r\rSploosh. \r\rThey're considering the idea of a level squish, because they can't give you something everytime you level because you would then get 120 of something and then it would be something like 0.3% improvement. It would be cool if every level you earned would give you a reward, instead of levels that currently give you nothing. \r\rAre there any older design philosophies you're rediscovering as you develop Classic?\r\rThe leveling discussion above. They want to apply more community to the live game -- community bonding and meeting new players.\r\rWill there be dedicated servers for Roleplaying on Classic?\r\rThey're having RP for an available server type for larger regions, but probably not RPPvP as it's a little to niche. They'll see how it unfolds.\r\rIs the communities feature worth putting dev resources into moving forwards?\r\rThey've seen lots of cross-server communities: PvP groups, to cross server raid groups. They want to add some of those missing guild permissions that were lost in the transition. \r\rIs the Two Sides to Every Tale achievement indicative of possible future incentives to play both factions?\r\rThere are two distinct narrative sides. For players who play both sides, they thought it would be a cool bonus. They don't think this is starting a trend. \r\rWhat are your thoughts on gold as a currency in WoW -- for repairs and player services?\r\rIt's important to have a healthy economy. If you get a raid BoE, they want you to be happy to sell it if you need gold. \r\rWoD and Legion created a huge inflation due to best way to make gold being missions on multiple alts. Now, raiders with potions and flasks, there's a guild economy where they can pool resources to make Cauldrons or sell BoEs. \r\rRegarding player services, this has been around since all the way back in 2005 and 2006. They think it's better for it to be in Gold rather than sketchy third party mediums. However, its more of a problem when advertisements feel like they dominate communication channels. \r\rWill the Demon Hunter realm restrictions be removed at any point?\r\rNo plans to remove it in Battle for Azeroth. Probably in the future. Part of the reason is because they start at level 98 and you'd make a bunch of Demon Hunters for farming.\r\rGoing forward will be see fights that aren't so punishing on melee?\r\rThey feel it's pretty good. For example, Rastakhan you want 9 ranged because the strategy that is the "best" strategy required 9 ranged. When they made the changes to Mythrax Orbs to not target melee, it inverted the fight from Melee unfriendly to Ranged unfriendly. \r\rWhy don't see BFA dungeons give reputation for their respective zones?\r\rIt's unlikely at this point. Reputations are mostly tied to outdoor World Quests and they're designed that way. However, it may make sense for some reputations going forward.\r\rAny chance Demo locks will get to see Thal'kiel again?\r\rIt's possible. It's part of the fun with Legion with sentient weapons. Hati was different because it was a beloved companion for many hunters. Xal'atath will play an interesting role in many plot points to come.

Comments

Comment by Nulgar

I kinda want them to troll you by listing off multiple of the Bingo words right at the start :P

Comment by JaceDraccus

on 2019-03-21T13:00:38-05:00

I need a bingo card for all the stupid jokes and complaints people make about the Q&As. 'Don't you have phones' would be a whole line all by itself, as would 'morally grey' and 'beta for Azeroth'.

Comment by nordiano

on 2019-03-21T13:16:47-05:00

wait classic boys

Comment by prophet001

on 2019-03-21T13:17:18-05:00

I need a bingo card for all the stupid jokes and complaints people make about the Q&As. 'Don't you have phones' would be a whole line all by itself, as would 'morally grey' and 'beta for Azeroth'.\r\r^--- This

Comment by Zaphbot

on 2019-03-21T13:18:13-05:00

I need a bingo card for all the stupid jokes and complaints people make about the Q&As. 'Don't you have phones' would be a whole line all by itself, as would 'morally grey' and 'beta for Azeroth'.\r\rWhen turning on Twitch chat it woudl be completed within 30 seconds.

Comment by jcoleman

on 2019-03-21T13:24:48-05:00

Portal answer: Never. Nothing. Next question.

Comment by Peshyy

on 2019-03-21T13:31:38-05:00

In the next update, they're going to add the ability to "Hide Chest" transmog.\r\rWell, we know how many elves are gonna ditch the green vest for this :D

Comment by Weislet

on 2019-03-21T13:35:14-05:00

I forsee a lot of shirtless elves in the future.

Comment by Barbdreams

on 2019-03-21T13:36:19-05:00

Portal answer: Never. Nothing. Next question.\r\rIt was a crappy answer but at least they are adding a Caverns of Time portal.

Comment by Skyrei

on 2019-03-21T13:36:45-05:00

Hide chest? Theres going to be soooo many topless chicks or people using the bandage shirts

Comment by kwentz87

on 2019-03-21T13:38:36-05:00

Yes, level squish please. It's cool to be ONEHUNDREDANDTWENTY but the content just isn't there anymore. Unfortunately, I really think they'll keep the total experience(and time) needed to reach max level anyways.

Comment by Meggle

on 2019-03-21T13:41:00-05:00

Ion gimme a 450 mount achievement, ty. (Dresaron from Darkheart Thicket in Legion would be a fab reward)

Comment by kaleestraza

on 2019-03-21T13:41:30-05:00

God, please no level squish. Just doing ilvl squishes cause ridiculous numbers of bugs, many of which never get fixed. Can you even IMAGINE what a disaster a level squish would be?

Comment by N0083rP00F

on 2019-03-21T13:49:27-05:00

"It was the fastest easiest dungeon" \rHand in your grade school diploma already - there will always be one that's easy and fast in comparison to the rest and one that's longest and hardest.\rGuess which one will have your loyal customer base literally screaming for your blood. \rThe not loyal ones stop being customers and go to the competition.\r\rOf the metric, I want to see them all but the one I really want to see is how much of their time is taken going from point A to point B\rOh right, corporate secret because the competition can use it against you by laughing at you and taking even more of the client base away.\r\rOn the portals question - lies lies and more lies\rOh adding a caverns portal because we need to throuw some water on the bonfire we are standing in.\rYou get portals when questing\r\rWell lah dee dah - so anyone wanting to do older content can just spend more time looking at the same tired landscapes with the now greatly reduced horizons for longer periods of time.\rIs this a facepalm moment or an acme anvil moment? Definitely warrents a rubber chicken to the back of the head

Comment by rezzyk

on 2019-03-21T13:52:26-05:00

I checked out the portal room for the first time today when I logged in for my free weekend. It's not terrible.. and with the upcoming Caverns of Time one it'll be better. But Azsuna instead of Broken Isles Dalaran? Honeydew Village instead of Vale? Why?

Comment by kaleestraza

on 2019-03-21T13:54:38-05:00

What a garbage, out of touch answer on the gold\/repairs question. He doesn't have any clue why the question was asked.......

Comment by offspinner

on 2019-03-21T13:58:18-05:00

I forsee a lot of shirtless elves in the future.\r\rAnd dwarves, hoo boy!

Comment by terrav32

on 2019-03-21T13:58:49-05:00

This is terrible, all the questions seem pointless and fake

Comment by Drudatz

on 2019-03-21T14:01:08-05:00

"important questions"? I havent seen one of those, sadly....

Comment by Barbdreams

on 2019-03-21T14:04:29-05:00

This is terrible, all the questions seem pointless and fake\r\rWell, I personally asked the one about Thal'kiel because I loved that talking head as much as any hunter loved Hati. And I'm pissed as hell at the response. So, pointless to some might not be pointless to others.